littlemoondragon

You will not hear back until late March or early April unless you are disqualified (such as incorrect formatting or not enough reference letters), where you typically receive a notification a few weeks after the deadline.

NSF Systems are finally back in order, so I am reading through the Solicitation. Other than the eligibility change for graduate students: Applications with only two letters (i.e., one fewer than the desired three letters) will be reviewed unless the applicant withdraws the submitted application by November 15 of the application year. Applications with fewer than two letters will be returned without review. To be considered for review, applications should include three reference letters from non-family members; however, applications with only two letters will be reviewed unless the applicant withdraws the submitted application by November 15 of the application year (see instructions below). Applications with fewer than two letters will be returned without review. Wow! In the past, there have been applications returned when a reviewer "forgot" to submit a letter, but now two is acceptable. If I were applying, I would make sure to still have three. Also, I know some applicants last year were freaking out about: Therefore, applicants must include separate statements on Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts in their written statements in order to provide reviewers with the information necessary to evaluate the application with respect to both Criteria as detailed below. It is recommended that applicants include headings for Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts in their statements. Make sure you have headers!

Good job @Eigen! Good luck to everyone as well!

The deadlines are up for 2016-2017. The time requirement is based on local time instead of eastern! https://www.nsfgrfp.org/applicants/important_dates

Typically, someone will start a new forum when the 2016-2017 NSF GRFP Solicitation is up. With the new eligibility as well as the past emphasis on explicitly saying what is your BI and IM, I bet the new solicitation will have more changes than last year.

I agree with @arima. Most programs are wrapping up the applicants for Fall 2016 and don't see any Fall 2017 applications until this Fall or a couple months before the deadline.

Thanks! I would definitely apply for the December deadline if you want to work for the Census, because they prefer people in the summer. I had to negotiate a August start, which was a bit difficult.

@Songbird222 Sure. Send me a pm later. I won't be starting my internship with them till August.

To help echo what everyone else has said, you should take time off! To ensure the other options are still available to you, as @rising_star has said, gain experience in public policy or some other related experiences to the PhD and MPP. It's ok to take time off as long as you "use that time productively". I've had friends who joined the Peace Corp, City Year, worked, traveled (volunteer work traveling), etc. and went back to graduate school. Their experiences also increased their chances of getting into some of their programs, because they used their time off productively and showed they really wanted graduate school. You may find you want to go to graduate school or you may not, but your time off will help you be sure of your decision. Good luck!

This is my experience with having the NSF GRFP that will echo what some other people have said and add new info: Prestige: while you may attend a top university, your peers, professors, graduate school staff, etc. will look at you more favorably. Even though my university is prestigious, I received several congratulatory emails from professors who hardly spoke to me. People around the university started to know me too, where gained a good reputation in not only my department, but the entire graduate school. Also, some people from outside your field may not know that the particular university you are attending is top tier in your field, but if they see you are a NSF GRF recipient, they will view you more highly. Freedom: I know that a few people already talked about freedom, but here are my specific instances with my "freedom". I have never TAed. I am now ahead of a lot of my peers and could graduate in four instead of five years. My advisor has plenty of funding to pay my stipend without the NSF GRFP so I wouldn't have to TA. Since there is no need to cover my stipend, there is extra money to do other things. If I want to go to a conference, my advisor pays for it. No negotiations needed. If I want to go to a workshop or travel or anything, my advisor is more willing to say, "Yes." I can research whatever I want, because the fellowship funds me. No strings attached. I don't have to work on a random side project that will fulfill the stipulations of my funding. I can be involved in other activities, because I have more time. I'm highly involved in STEM outreach and graduate organizations. This involvement has led to widening my professional network more and gain a greater reputation. NSF GROW/GRIP: I applied the the NSF GRIP and won the award. I now have a contact with the US Census Bureau, which is big. The Bureau is the largest government statistical agency in the US. This opportunity will not only contribute to my dissertation (yay chapter!), but also provide great networking.

What?! That sucks! Good luck!

Yes. Don't forget to check your spam in case the email gets sent there!

Congrats! I applied as well and found out yesterday too. I'm going to work at the US Census Bureau.

Mine said "YEAR NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Notification". So, you're correct, the filter is on the body.

Be sure to check your spam, because the NSF announcement email says stuff like 'congratulations', 'you are the recipient', etc.

Doesn't seem to be as many graduate, but I am more proud of my graduate institution than my undergraduate. I know this sounds petty, but going from a very poor public university to a very rich private university has a lot of perks. For instance: professor are not having chalk wars, because the university cut back paying for chalk and printing. Other perks... full funding for all (guaranteed funding in some form or another) more competent staff on average extra resources (e.g. Career services specialized for phd and masters students) extra resources for research (There are lots of travel grants, computing clusters, etc.) the name draws in high profile speakers and entertainment the networking is fantastic - I am not at all worried about finding a job after I graduate. lots of support for graduate organizations (i.e. I never imaged I would be working with a budget as large as I am for a graduate organization.) etc... because I'm sure there is more, but I can't think of it.

I echo what @Demeter and @rising_star have said. In addition, I think there is another divide caused in private universities, because of finances. To clarify, I attend a private university where the endowment is HUGE (in the billions). I came from a very poor public university for my undergrad (the tuition is ~$4,000 a year versus over $50,000 a year). A lot of graduate students I meet are like me. We are not from super rich families and we did not attend super fancy, private universities for undergrad. We came to our current graduate institution ,because of the research and also 99% of graduate students are fully funded (awesome!). However, the undergraduates are from rich families. Not all, but a lot of them are well off. I see a lot of undergrads that I feel I should punch them in the face, because they walk around like they are God's gift to Earth. There are more than a few self-entitled shit heads. I taught a full class one semester and I was advised heavily not to be too harsh (whereas in my undergrad when I TAed, I could be very strict and even kick students out) or else piss off some random donors' child. D: I'm not at Princeton, but I have a couple friends who are and it sounds like they are in a similar boat. This divide of economic culture causes graduate students to be "stand-offish" toward the undergraduates.

He was busy...again... It's Fulbright Season, and our institution is famous for being one of the top universities for Fulbright. So, my boss is swamped. First cold and now Fulbright. I don't think I'll get to have a proper conversation with him for a while. Anywho...I talked to someone else in the office and he believes that you will not be out right disqualified for the lack of BI and IM, but it will be against you since it was in the Solicitation.

Eastern. Good luck!

This info is from thecoralgirl and rehab-robitcs on a previous post. 2015: Tuesday, March 31, 2015 @~3:00AM 2014: Tuesday, April 1, 2014 @ ~2:00AM 2013 :Friday, March 29, 2013 @ ~2:00AM 2012: Friday, April 1, 2012 @ ~2:00AM 2011: Tuesday, April 5, 2011 @ ~12:50AM 2010: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 @ ~1:00AM 2009: Friday, April 10, 2009 @ ~1:00AM 2008: Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ ~2:00AM 2007: Monday, March 23. 2007 @ ~11:20 PM

You're correct. If your application was disqualified or not be reviewed, you will be notified soon after the deadline. Typical reasons for return are: missing the deadline, formatting, missing components, missing letters, etc.

No...he got super sick. I could ask via email, but I would rather talk in person so I can get more details (Sometimes you have an answer that sparks more questions.) Our meeting got re-rescheduled for next Thursday. I promise to post here as soon as I speak with him.

Oh! I understand needing to vent, because I have to or else I explode unnecessarily on people. As you said, things will work out, but you probably feel a bit nervous as deadlines come up. You got this!

That's super frustrating (referring to reference writer)! Hopefully, he/she will pull through.

@Need Coffee in an IV Oh! Sorry for my lack of understanding. I'm sure things will work out! Good luck!